Huawei Mate 20 Pro vs P20 Pro: Here’s what’s different

The Mate 20 Pro comes with a triple-camera setup at the back, in-display fingerprint scanner and more.

After being in the rumor mills for quite a few months, the Mate 20 series from Huawei is finally official. The company has launched four devices – the Mate 20, Mate 20 Pro, Mate 20 X and Porsche Design Mate 20 RS. All phones come with a triple-camera setup at the back, just like the Huawei P20 Pro that was launched earlier this year. But there are a few differences though, and here is what has changed in the Mate 20 Pro compared to the P20 Pro.

Under the hood

When it comes to flagship smartphones, it’s all about the power and performance. The Mate 20-series are the first smartphones to be powered by a 7nm chipset. Huawei has used the homebrewed HiSilicon Kirin 980 SoC with features an octa-core CPU – two Cortex A76 cores clocked at 2.6GHz, two Cortex A76 cores clocked at 1.92GHz, and four Cortex A55 cores clocked at 1.8GHz. It is paired with 4GB / 6GB RAM and 128GB onboard storage options. Huawei has also included a proprietary nano memory card slot as well for expandable storage.

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The Huawei P20 Pro, on the other hand, is equipped with a Kirin 970 SoC, which is built on 10nm process and has features an octa-core CPU. The setup includes four CortexA73 cores clocked at 2.36GHz, and 4 CortexA53 cores clocked at 1.8GHz. The smartphone is equipped with 6GB of RAM and 128GB onboard storage. Sadly, there is no scope of expanding the storage further.

Display

The Mate 20 Pro comes with a 6.39-inch OLED panel that runs at a 2K+ resolution – 3120×1440 pixels, 538ppi, and 19.5:9 aspect ratio. There is also a notch on the top which houses the front camera, 3D depth sensor and earpiece. The P20 Pro, on the other hand, comes with a 6.1-inch OLED panel with Full HD+ resolution – 1080×2240 pixels, 408ppi and aspect ratio of 18.7:9. The Mate 20 Pro screen also supports HDR10.

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Cameras

The main highlight of both phones is the rear camera setup. The Mate 20 comes with a 40-megapixel primary sensor of f/1.8 aperture. The second is a 20-megapixel sensor of f/2.2 aperture and it comes with an ultra wide angle lens. The third is an 8-megapixel sensor with f/2.4 aperture and telephoto lens for portrait mode and optical zoom.

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In case of the P20 Pro, you get the same 40-megapixel primary and 8-megapixel third sensor. What changes is the second sensor. Instead of an ultrawide-angle lens, this one comes with a monochrome sensor to improve low light photography. It is a 20-megapixel sensor with f/1.6 aperture lens. Up front, both smartphones come with 24-megapixel sensor for selfies and video calling.

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Both cameras are backed by AI scene detection feature that automatically optimizes the photos based on what you are shooting. In case of the Mate 20 Pro, it uses the dedicated NPU to add live black and white filter to your videos – where the background is in monochrome, and the subject in focus is in color. There is also AI enabled portrait mode, and studio lighting effects. The Mate 20 Pro also comes with 3D sensor for the front camera, allowing you to capture 3D models of objects, and also interact with them, similar to Google’s Playground AR effects.

Watch: Huawei P20 Pro Review

Battery, security and connectivity

To keep things ticking, the Mate 20 Pro comes with a 4,200mAh battery, whereas the P20 Pro comes with a slightly smaller 4,000mAh battery. Both feature fast charging, but the Mate 20 Pro one ups. It supports 40W fast charging, 15W fast wireless charging, and reverse wireless charging, where you can use the Mate 20 Pro as a wireless charger to charge other smartphones that supports the feature. The wireless charging feature is missing from the P20 Pro.

In terms of security, the Mate 20 Pro comes with an in-display fingerprint scanner, and 3D depth face unlock, similar to Face ID on the iPhone X-models. The P20 Pro comes with face unlock, and a fingerprint scanner that is placed on the front, just below the display. Connectivity options on both smartphones include dual SIM card slots, USB Type-C port, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and GPS.

Lastly, on the software front, the Mate 20 Pro runs Android 9 Pie with EMUI skin on top, whereas the P20 Pro comes with Android 8.1 Oreo with EMUI skin on top. It will be upgraded to Android Pie OS soon.